United with our Asian American Community
March 18, 2021
Aggies by the Sea,
I am horrified and saddened by yet another act of hate against the Asian American community in Atlanta yesterday that resulted in the shooting deaths of eight people, including six Asian American women. Every incident that targets race creates waves that ripple through our own community no matter where the incident occurred. We here at Texas A&M University at Galveston have no tolerance for discrimination and racial division. We are ALL Aggies, united in our shared traditions and experiences, and in our intolerance of intolerance.
I stand united with Dr. Carol Bunch-Davis, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, and CLIDE Committee Chair, and acting Chief Academic Officer Dr. Antonietta Quigg in her message to the Galveston Campus community below.
With all my respect,
Michael E. Fossum
Dear Campus Community:
We recognize the pain that members of the Galveston Campus community may be experiencing in the wake of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and the deaths of six Asian women in the Atlanta metroplex. We share your grief and concerns and want to support you in these difficult days. Daisey McCloud and Ken Bailey in Student Counseling Services are available to you should you need them and you can access appointments here.
We also want to reaffirm our commitment to our Aggie Core values in the face of these challenges. In particular, we emphasize the importance of respect for all of our community members as human beings and leadership in our roles as bystanders who intervene in and de-escalate instances of anti-Asian harassment. Please find resources below to support you in these practices.
Reaffirming the commitment to both our core values as well as Interim President Junkins’ and Interim Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity Dr. Annie McGowan’s statements today, we want the Sea Aggie Community to know that we reject anti-Asian harassment and violence and stand in solidarity with the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander members of the campus community.
The resources listed below support these efforts.
- A comprehensive resource explaining Anti-Asian racism and the events that have transpired: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DKLjh26g5vkuCVDnLeS5X4ElgT7Q1uT8ihlqQefP-no/mobilebasic
- A list of AAPI therapists (with contact information) separated by state organized by the Asian American Mental Health Collective: https://www.asianmhc.org
- For information and support for coping with fear, grief, anger and anxiety, and developing self-care strategies, Texas A&M's Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) in the Division of Student Affairs provides a comprehensive list of resources: Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19.
- To promote a safe and inclusive Aggie community, we encourage you to report acts of hatred, discrimination, or bias toward a member of the Aggie community using Stop Hate. The TAMU Office for Diversity also provides a toolkit of resources and self-care tips for addressing xenophobia and anti-Asian racism.
As the Chair of the campus’ CLIDE committee, I encourage everyone to use the on campus professional development opportunities CLIDE provides to support intercultural development that can help us to reflect on our own actions and practices.
- The Intercultural Development Inventory and Intercultural Development Plan offer a means of more deeply engaging cultural differences.
- Attend a Core Values and Cultural Competency Workshop—we have had two Bystander Intervention Workshops as well as a presentation by Dr. Keith Edwards on Men’s Identity Development which you can view here with the access code grfGuZ#1
I encourage us all to support each other in this moment of grief and also utilize our existing resources to prevent these kinds of events from happening again.
Sincerely,
Carol Bunch Davis, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs
Associate Professor of English
Chair, Civic Literacy, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Committee
and
Antonietta Quigg, Ph.D.
Acting Chief Academic Officer
Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies
Regents Professor